India will be launching its ‘Chandrayan’ mission to explore the moon in the third quarter of this year. It was informed by Mr Prithviraj Chavan, a minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office. The minister said that the objective of Chandrayan will be to study the landscape on the moon. When the question of sending a man to moon was raised, Mr Chavan remarked that the proposal was being considered by the Indian government but no verdict has come till now.  

 

It is reported that the government had sanctioned Rs 95 Crore rupees for preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on this issue. The Chandrayaan-I spacecraft will revolve around the moon during its two-year mission. Mr Prithviraj Chavan underscored that India is one among the top five countries in the world to have enhanced space technologies and stated that the country was even ahead of China in remote sensing and satellite building.

 

In the past India has dispatched eight foreign satellites with the help of Indian made rockets. However, it is also true that there was exodus of the Indian space scientists. Minister Chavan agreed this was true, but also added that the exodus rate of Indian space scientists was not high. He further informed that the space department had set up an institute in Thiruvananthapuram to attract young scientists. Replying another query, he said that the decision to launch an Israeli satellite had been considered at the highest level. He said for the Antrix Corporation, the launch of the Israeli satellite was solely commercial.